Virtual farrowing - 12th October 2009
Exeter Training Group focused on farrowing for its recent session. Virtual farm tours were used for the first time, proving a fantastic way to fuel discussion.
Four pig units spoke about their diverse farrowing systems while a video of their farrowing accommodation was shown. Every unit's crates and housing were different, with two of the units moving sows to solaris and arcs after 5 days but farrowing in a Portapig.
The
group could really see around the units through the use of videos and it was a
great success, with much discussion being based on the details of the set up and
what had been changed through trial and error.
To
record the differences in the systems we created a chart. Each unit wrote up the
different practices in farrowing crate preparation, litter work, routine vet
tasks and environment. We then discussed the reason why some had been adopted on
one unit and not another and the need to revisit some routine task
policies.